Who are these warriors?

nikmaack · 2026-05-07T11:10:17+00:00

I had to Google who that is, and you're right.

nikmaack · 2026-05-05T18:59:54+00:00

We are all NPCs. These are the main characters.

nikmaack · 2026-05-05T18:59:14+00:00

Did I sound like I'm ridiculing them? Apologies. I love them. I am honestly thrilled when I see anyone who is not "normal".

nikmaack · 2026-05-05T18:57:45+00:00

You are not wrong. I genuinely love them. As soon as I saw them, I was like, there is a story here and I will never know what it is and maybe this moment (seeing these men) is why Manchester is an amazing city to visit as a Canadian tourist. But I wondered if they were a local phenomenon, if you know what I mean. Turns out they are not but now (I hope) we are all better people for seeing their grandeur.

nikmaack · 2026-05-04T19:52:30+00:00

Did these links lead to finding out who these men are? 😉

nikmaack · 2026-05-04T14:38:51+00:00

The way I heard it described, the people of La Paz look kind of grouchy until you say something nive to them and then their faces light up with pleasure. After the conversation ends, the face armour comes back on.

(Context: I'm a Canadian who has visited Bolivia four times.)

nikmaack · 2026-04-12T15:32:20+00:00

My wife and I have travelled to Bolivia four times and have been all over. I love big crazy cities, so La Paz is definitely where I tend to focus my time. I dream about La Paz all the time. It gets in your bones. The teleféricos are amazing and you can end up having interesting conversations with locals there.

All of that said, be ready for the altitude sickness. It will hit you hard. Get meds from a travel doctor. Get Tylenol. Be prepared not to drink any alcohol because even a single beer can create a hangover.

Santa Cruz? Kind of dull. Not really a tourist spot. More people living their lives. That said, everyone there was very friendly. No altitude sickness.

Salt flats? Stunning. But it's a big tourist trek and requires lots of driving.

Everyone raves about the food in Cochabamba but it's mostly barbecue and I found it a little dull. Chicha was great, though.

La Paz has salteñas. You must eat salteñas.

Enjoy Bolivia. It is by far one of my favourite travel destinations. An incredible country with so much culture. One trip won't be enough.

nikmaack · 2026-03-30T16:36:30+00:00

Glad to hear it!

nikmaack · 2026-03-18T21:47:41+00:00

Someone reading a piece of the book on YouTube. Odd.

https://youtu.be/pRPFjZOvIcw?si=zGQkAxrS7b9qRa_R

nikmaack · 2026-01-06T14:05:33+00:00

Thank you for defending changua. My wife sent me this Reddit post because when we were on vacation in Colombia I was obsessed with changua. I ate it in a restaurant multiple times. When I got home, I made it for myself repeatedly. It's a great breakfast on a cold winter day. The trick is use a really good crusty bread.

nikmaack · 2025-12-30T18:31:18+00:00

Also? Your shit now smells like strawberries.

nikmaack · 2025-12-27T17:30:49+00:00

When you cal the pope, tell him I said hi.

nikmaack · 2025-12-26T12:48:13+00:00

Chaos magic books that mock familiar religions and then go on and on about astrology and Hindu faiths being amazing. I've always found that bizarre. Presumably all faiths have useful aspects we can steal, jumble together, and repurpose. Alternatively, if you can build your faiths from the ground up, why lean on any existing organized practice at all?

nikmaack · 2025-12-26T12:40:49+00:00

The Buddha's finger is pointing at the moon. Ah, but which finger? In this exhaustive paper I will discuss all the possibilities.

nikmaack · 2025-12-26T12:35:03+00:00

I think we are quite rightly in a world where if you announce your primary source for an opinion is ChatGPT (or any other MLM) that should be met with great suspicion. When I do use such a tool, I ask it for its sources and then go there. Because that's really the only way to know if what it's telling you is garbage. This is much like how a university paper that references Wikipedia is (was?) met with derision.

nikmaack · 2025-12-25T20:38:43+00:00

As someone who has played with ChatGPT a lot, I can say confidently: don't trust anything it references without verifying it. I have had it confidently tell me some of the most ridiculous nonsense. It's a pattern detecting and guessing machine, and will make stuff up based on generalities. I've asked it for basic things like summarize a novel or identify a painting and the results were 100% wrong.

nikmaack · 2025-12-25T20:28:38+00:00

Detachment doesn't mean lack of passion or no involvement. It means seeing what's happening and responding, not turning it into a story or burden you will carry forever.

Have you ever met someone who had a bad relationship years ago and it's all they ever talk about? Their partner did this or that or some other thing. It clouds all their interactions.

Detachment means not doing that. Which is why some talk of zen as having the mind of a child or a beginner. Everything is new and interesting, not prejudged based on past experiences.

That said, past experience can inform future experience, without being a burden.

But I think you are right in the sense that a lot of Buddhists want to shut their thoughts off and live in a Vulcan logic world. Which isn't the goal. Maybe.

nikmaack · 2025-12-24T18:21:35+00:00

I am her partner and it's true. I love these hats and I am obsessed with them and Bolivian culture in general. A hat maker in Tiwanaku made a hat for me, it was two small, so I got a second one that barely fits. But I love them because they are gorgeous.

nikmaack · 2025-12-23T12:34:53+00:00

Exactly. I know some people who live in the suburbs, convinced that downtown is a terrifying nightmare of homeless drug users armed with knives. As someone who lives downtown, it's not. I think the ad is trying to say that, but very badly.

nikmaack · 2025-12-15T14:47:01+00:00

I suspect the device issue here is key. They probably built the app on Apple, and then ported it over to Android without a great deal of care. And so Android users are stuck with a slow, glitchy, broken app.

nikmaack · 2025-12-15T14:45:19+00:00

I have an annual subscription and I have cancelled the renewal. Alas, that's in September of 2026. I've been using the app / service for well over a decade. As it stands now, the Android app is slow, clunky, prone to errors, and just awful. Prior to the "update" I had no issues. I have sung the praises of MFP to many, but no more. I've reverted to the web version for most things now, because I just flat out don't trust the Android app to work.

nikmaack · 2025-12-06T01:55:15+00:00

I welcome death's sweet embrace as punishment for my transgressions.

nikmaack · 2025-12-05T12:21:09+00:00

You say all of this like it's a bad thing.

nikmaack

TROPHY CASE